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5 Thoughts About Flash: "Finish Line"

The season finale is upon us! Iris has been killed, probably. So where does that leave Barry and Team Flash, and more importantly: how are they going to stop Savitar?

1.) As everyone guessed, Savitar failed to kill Iris because it was actually HR Wells all along. Unfortunate, but also entirely unsurprising given how the previous episode telegraphed it all with the image inducer. It's kind of a shame, as HR was the right kind of quirky for Team Flash that contrasted with how Harry or the original Harrison Wells behaved and forced the team to rely on their own scientific know-how. As we look towards a fourth season, I'm really hoping we never see a fourth Wells--much like the speedster arc villains, this schtick has gotten thin.

2.) Savitar's ultimate plan wound up being to project himself throughout all time, thus avoiding being erased and making him a "god"...sort of. If I'm being honest it doesn't really make a lot of sense, but then none of the time stuff in Flash this season has made any sense so there you go. It feels like no matter how many clones across time exist of a person, if the original never existed they'd all be wiped from creation I'd think. But it does explain how he originally intended to be a god...probably making this device was all a part of Plan A, once he got past the whole "ensuring his existence" thing.

3.) Things got downright anime-like in the middle of the episode, with the whole "overcome love with hatred" and trying to talk to Savitar and actually convince him through the power of love that he should join Team Flash. For half a second I thought he'd actually go along with it, but in a surprisingly smart move it was just a means to buy time and potentially eliminate Team Flash so they couldn't get in the way of his plan. I appreciated that though; as much as I love anime it looks weird in a Western live-action series when you see an actual murderer suddenly decide to change his mind, particularly after centuries of formulating his plan in the first place.

4.) I appreciate that the ultimate end of Killer Frost was not going back to normal, as it would've been pretty shitty to let all the dudes of the core of Team Flash gain powers and keep them, but Caitlin just "wasn't strong enough" to hold on to her own powers. I hope she comes back next season with complete control and just embraces all sides of herself--the genius bio-scientist and the bad-ass ice queen powers.

5.) As stupid as Savitar's identity and origin was, this was a excellently executed finale. Flash has some of the best actors in the CW-verse, no question. I didn't really find myself cringing like during the Supergirl finale, and the bit where Iris saves Barry was brilliant and I couldn't be happier that she got to be his hero when it counted the most. The show had come to a fine end point, and there were all sorts of things they could have set up for the next season...but no. The writers liked that cliffhanger nonsense from the first two seasons so much, they had to force it for the third!

Having defeated Savitar, freed Jay Garrick, and givenalmost everyone a happy ending, we finally see Team Flash able to carry forward, stronger than ever. Only...barely a day later there's suddenly a "speedquake" threatening to rip the planet apart if it doesn't get a prisoner for a cell inside of it that shouldn't have ever existed, and even if it did there's really no reason why it always "has to" have a prisoner in it. In fact, since Savitar got erased that cell shouldn't even exist anymore! But because the Flash writers want to include time stuff but don't actually want to make the rules work like they're supposed to, there's definitely still a cell and the Speed Force is throwing an absolute tantrum because no one's in it.

So of course Barry chooses to enter it, rushing headlong into the Speed Force to save the world "one last time". This is supposed to be a cliffhanger ending that leaves us on the edge of our seats, eagerly waiting the premiere of season four. ...Only, it doesn't. I could care less what happens, because this moment wasn't earned. The happy ending made total sense, and then suddenly you went back on it because you wanted to amp up the drama. Except, there is no drama because Barry will inevitably get back out because the show's called "The Flash" not "Kid Flash" or "The Golden Age Flash" or "Cisco and Friends".

And that's this season of Flash for you. Where every cool or solid moment is balanced out with something needlessly stupid or poorly thought out. Flash Season Three is what happens when a group of writers want to play with time but don't actually want to think through the rules of their own show. It's what happens when you get used to writing loops that just "have" to repeat every season. So even though the show is carried by great performances and some enjoyable episodes here and there, it's kept from reaching the excellence it deserves. With all that in mind, I have to say this season earned itself a B-.

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